


Let there be gay dragons

by floatingaway4



Category: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Henry Needs A Hug, Henry is a gay English major, M/M, references to historical homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:14:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25884916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floatingaway4/pseuds/floatingaway4
Summary: Sometimes Henry gets stuck in his own head, and Alex has to drag him back to the present
Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor
Comments: 30
Kudos: 230





	Let there be gay dragons

  
  


It’s probably Oscar Wilde, Alex thinks. 

He’d arrived home from class in the early afternoon to find the first floor of their home empty. Henry had told him at breakfast that he was planning to stay home and work today but he could’ve taken a break to check in at the shelter. 

But no, music from Henry’s Spotify is playing over their speaker system, so he’s here somewhere. Usually Henry comes down to meet Alex at the door, or calls out to him...but not today. It’s possible he’s wrapped up in his work and didn’t hear the alarm chirp when Alex came in. 

When Alex walks upstairs, though, he finds an empty office, too. Henry’s chair is pushed back from the desk like he stepped away for a moment and intended to come back. 

Alex cocks his head and doesn’t hear the piano, so he decides his best bet is the bedroom. 

Sure enough, Henry is curled up on their bed, fully dressed, with his back to the open door. Alex doesn’t go in yet. Instead, he walks back to their office and looks at the tabs Henry has open on the laptop. 

Bingo. Oscar Wilde. 

Alex breathes out a long, weary sigh and walks back to the bedroom. He wrestles his tie off and drops it on the dresser, kicks off his shoes, and crawls into bed facing Henry. He wraps his arms around his boyfriend and scoots closer. “I know you’re not asleep.” 

“I’m fine,” Henry insists, without opening his eyes. 

Alex huffs out a hoarse laugh. “Bullshit.” He leans his forehead against Henry’s. “Talk to me, baby.” 

“It’s just... it’s a lot, Alex,” he says, finally looking at him. 

“I know,” Alex murmurs.

Henry’s known his British gay history for a long time, much longer than Alex has, but for some reason trying to write about it is tearing him apart in a new and horrible way. Maybe because he’s digging deeper than he ever has before, trying to process the minute, horrifying details of his country’s past. 

Alex lifts a hand to stroke Henry’s hair. “Look, I am 100% supportive of you writing this book, but I’m not thrilled about the part where you end up crying in the fetal position,” Alex tells him. 

“I’m not cry…” he stops when Alex raises his eyebrows, warning Henry not to argue. His shoulders sag. “I just can’t help but put myself in their place, Alex.” 

Alex knows that. Henry has told him how hard it is to think about these talented, accomplished men he’s writing about. Punished by their own country, a country Henry truly loves and takes pride in most of the time. Punished because who they loved, the way they loved, was so abhorrent to society. _"And that's just the ones we know about, Alex. Imagine how many others were punished for...for being like us, for wanting what we have."_

Some nights, Henry really gets going. He paces the living room while he weaves stories for Alex, explaining how various political and social forces combined to create and enforce these awful discriminatory laws. But at least then he’s alive and vibrant and justifiably fucking angry. Alex doesn’t mind those nights. It’s like watching his own really sexy TED talk. 

This, though, Alex hates this part. When Henry just curls in on himself and...deflates. 

The first time he found Henry like this, it was after he’d been writing about Wilde being sentenced to two years of hard labor for the crime of “gross indecency.” 

_“He refused to say that what he did was wrong, Alex. He said people just didn't understand. I don’t know if I would have been that brave, especially knowing the consequences.”_

The next time Henry was this upset, he was working on the section about Alan Turing, who “chose” chemical castration over imprisonment. “ _Like that’s a fucking choice_ ,” Henry had said. _“The government did that to him. Not some crazy mad scientist, Alex, the bloody government.”_

Henry’s brain runs in torturous circles, stuck wondering _what if_...? If he’d been born a few decades earlier, or in a totally different time, what would he have chosen? Would he have told the truth, or lied to save himself? Would being a prince have made it easier for him, or would he have been punished to set an example? Would he have married a woman he could never really love, and had the occasional risky affair? Henry honestly can’t imagine any of those scenarios, and Alex discourages him from trying too hard. It’s practically a full time job, keeping Henry’s mind out of the darker corners of history. 

So here they are again. Henry stares blankly over Alex’s shoulder, absently playing with the buttons on Alex’s shirt. “You know part of the reason Wilde got sent to prison was because someone leaked love letters to the press. Sound familiar? If I'd been alive then, that could’ve been me, you know,” Henry tells him. Again. 

“I know, sweetheart, but it’s not,” Alex tells him, holding him tightly again and pressing a kiss to his forehead. “Look, we can’t change history, but your work is going to help people understand it. And from there, we can try to make the world a safer, more accepting place for the future. Right?” 

Henry finally looks at Alex and nods, but he still has that absent shadow in his eyes. Alex desperately wants to shake him, but instead, he just keeps touching him, hoping it grounds him and reminds Henry that this is what’s real, that _they_ are what’s real. _Be here with me,_ Alex wants to say. 

“I think you need to get out of your head. Take a break from working on the history section and focus a little more on the progress that’s been made in England. Write about the good things going on right now.” 

Henry nods, looking a little more confident this time. 

“Hey, speaking of ‘right now’, you know what I heard,” Alex tugs at Henry’s waist, pulling himself closer. He looks around the room, as though someone might be eavesdropping. “I heard a rumor that someone in the current royal family is _gay_.” Alex whispers the last word, like it’s too terrible to be uttered aloud in polite company.

Henry smiles a small smile, but it’s a start, and Alex will take it. “That’s impossible. Slanderous, even,” he says in his best imperious voice. “Royals aren’t allowed to be gay.” 

Alex nods, his hair rubbing against the pillow. “No, really! And guess what else?” 

Henry rolls his eyes fondly. “What?” 

“He has a boyfriend. An _American_ boyfriend!” 

Henry’s eyes widen adorably. “Preposterous!” Alex would swear Henry’s accent gets stronger when he uses big words. “That would be quite the scandal if it were true.” 

“I mean, there are pictures, apparently. It was all over the tabloids,” Alex tells him with a wink and a protective squeeze, “so it must be true.” 

“No!” Henry flattens his hand over his chest, pretending to be shocked.

“Yup. Turns out he was getting together with this boyfriend all the time for booty calls.” 

“No.” Henry’s smile is a little bigger, more real, and Alex can relax a little. 

Alex opens his mouth again, but Henry talks over him, shaking his head. 

“No, they weren’t just booty calls.” He leans in to kiss Alex. “See, _I_ heard that this royal was in love the whole time, he just wasn’t ready to say it yet.” 

Alex runs his hand through Henry’s hair, letting it rest at the nape of his neck. “My source says the American boyfriend felt the same way.” He smiles at Henry. “So every time this royal shows up in public with his hot boyfriend, he’s going to inspire all these queer kids, and maybe help some parents be more accepting, too. He’ll make the world a better place just by being himself.” 

Henry slides a hand down Alex’s back. “Are you sure this is a true story, love? It sounds like a fairy tale. Emphasis on the ‘fairy’ part.” Henry grins at his own joke and Alex rolls his eyes. 

“I mean, there is a beautiful prince in it,” Alex concedes. Henry is fully relaxed in his arms now and Alex can exhale. 

“I think the prince is usually described as ‘handsome’ in these stories,” Henry informs him, sounding much more like himself. 

Alex glares at him, but there’s no heat behind it. “Well, _my_ prince is beautiful, so he needs to shut the fuck up while his hot boyfriend tells the damn story.”

Henry laughs, his face finally bright and open. “I’m sorry, please, do go on.” 

“Want me to tell you about the evil queen?” Alex offers, with a glint in his eye. 

Henry’s childish excitement makes Alex’s heart clench in the best way. “Does she get vanquished from the kingdom? Thrown in the moat? Eaten by dragons?”  
  


Alex tilts his head thoughtfully. “Actually, the beautiful prince battles her in a conference room, and then she’s made functionally irrelevant by the beautiful prince’s mother... but eaten by dragons is more exciting. Let’s go with that.” 

“As long as we’re inventing them, can they be gay dragons?” Henry asks, with that same eagerness. 

“Sure, babe,” Alex chuckles. “What does a gay dragon look like?” 

Henry’s smile is brilliant. “Fabulous, of course.” 

Alex bursts out laughing. He doesn’t know how he could love this man any more than he does. 

He rolls on top of Henry, who spreads his hands to roam over Alex’s back. “So what happens to the beautiful prince and his handsome boyfriend?” Henry asks. 

Alex leans down to nuzzle Henry’s face. “Hmmm…..they live happily ever after in New York, in an insanely expensive house--”

“I told you, it’s an _investment,_ ” Henry interrupts, “and the prince could bloody well afford it.” 

“And I told _you_ to shut up,” Alex reminds him with a smirk. He’s enjoyed poking at Henry over this, ever since Henry had his name added to the title and Alex found out exactly how much their home cost. “And they get married and have kids, while also both becoming revolutionary queer icons, fighting for human rights around the world.”

“I like this story,” Henry tells him with a soft smile, reaching up to tuck a curl behind Alex’s ear. 

“Me too,” Alex whispers. Henry’s tenderness undoes him, sometimes. 

“You know,” Henry tells him, “fairy tales were originally created to explain and enforce moral values on young children, by frightening them into…”

“Oh my god, you are such a nerd,” Alex almost yells, but it melts into a happy sigh. “And I love you.” He flops back onto the mattress and takes Henry’s hand. “Let’s go away this weekend. No book, no studying, no homework, no shelter paperwork. Just me and you and David.” 

“That sounds amazing, actually.” Henry turns onto his side and props his head on his elbow to look down at Alex. “You know, after I finish this one, maybe I’ll write a queer children’s book.” 

Alex grabs Henry’s face in excitement. “Oh my god, you totally should! Please let there be gay dragons!” 

Henry laughs into Alex’s mouth as they kiss. They both look toward the doorway as they hear David’s feet softly padding into the room. 

“Come on,” Alex says, pulling on Henry’s arm. “It’s still nice out. Let’s go for a run.” 

Henry nods and sits up too. “David, do you want to come for a run?” 

David settles into his dog bed for a nap, whining a little, as though offended at the very idea. 

They both start changing clothes. Alex can’t resist one more jab. “And when we come back we can shower together. We might as well, I bet we could fit five or six people in that shower--”

Henry cuts him off, laughing. “You know, the American boyfriend is welcome to find his own place to live.” 

Alex shuts him up with another kiss, and they go for a run... 

Eventually.

**Author's Note:**

> I love any positive LGBTQ+ representation in media. For anyone who doesn’t know, there IS a children’s cartoon called the Bravest Knight, based on a children’s fairy tale book. The cartoon is about a mixed race family of two dads and their adopted daughter. One of the dads is a prince. (!!!) I saw it on Hulu and it restored a little of my faith in the world. And I don’t even have kids! I just love stuff like this.


End file.
